Daily Update 13

Good Morning. Twelve more mushers have crossed under the Burled Arches. There are 22 teams still on the trail. Weather has played a big role in the race this year. Have you been keeping up with the weather stories? We have also had two teams withdrawn from the race. Do you know the difference between scratched and withdrawn? Read about the withdrawn teams below and see if you can figure it out.

Finished:

Hugh Neff 10 days 17 hours 56 minutes 15 seconds

Anna Berington 10 days 21 hours 44 minutes 20 seconds

Micki Konno 11 days 0 hours 35 minutes 2 seconds

Jeff King 11 days 1 hour 36 minutes 32 seconds

Michael Williams 11 days 3 hours 16 minutes 46 seconds

Katherine Keith 11 days 5 hours 35 minutes 10 seconds

Rick Casillo 11 days 7 hours 29 minutes 17 seconds

Martin Buser 11 days 9 hours 2 minutes 14 seconds

Cody Strathe 11 days 9 hours 26 minutes 47 seconds

Andrew Nolan 11 days 10 hours 3 minutes 36 seconds

Noah Peters 11 days 11 hours 22 minutes 12 seconds

Tom Knolmayer 11 days 12 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds

The next 5:

Charley Bejna out of Safety

Emily Maxwell out of Safety

Aaron Peck out of Safety

Kristy Berington out of White Mountain

Andy Pohl out of White Mountain

The Red Lantern Position is:

Magnus Kaltenborn out of Koyuk

Scratched:

Alan Eischens scratched in Koyuk due to an injury sustained to his arm. He made the decision based on the ability to care for his dogs.

Withdrawn:

Steve Watkins and Tara Cicatello were withdrawn from the race in Unalakleet. Both wanted to continue the race. They were withdrawn by Race Marshall Mark Nordman based on rule 36 regarding Competiviness. Both had fallen behind after facing tough conditions along the Yukon River. Mark said, “ Due to the distance behind the rest of the field, it unfortunately was not feasible to keep the infrastructure in place to support their race efforts going forward.”

Withdrawn means that the decision to stop racing is not made by the musher. The musher has done nothing wrong. The race judges make the decision for a variety of reasons. In this case, Steve and Tara were so far behind the other teams that keeping the checkpoints open wasn’t feasible. The checkers, vets, etc., were needed in the other checkpoints further down the trail. Steve and Tara are in Unalakleet and are being taken care of by the people of the village until they and their teams can be flown out.

My prediction is that the Red Lantern will cross under the Burled Arches sometime late Saturday or Early Sunday. What do you think? Will everyone make it to the Finishers Banquet?Can’t wait to find out.